Closure for articles of apparael



Feb. 5, 1935. N. SALWEN 1,990,311

CLOSURE FOR ARTICLES OF APPAREL Filed Nov. 28, 1934 INVENTOR 7lal'hanrsalwn Patented Feb. 5, 1935 v UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE v 1,990,311I CLOSURE FOB ARTICLES F APPAREL Nathan Salwen, Brooklyn, N. Y.Application November 28, 1934, Serial No. 755,090 I 2 Claims. (01.2-234) This invention relates to improvements in articles of apparel,being particularly directed to a closure applied in trousers or likegarments.

Among the late developments in closures for garments, such as trousersor the like, there has been applied the so-called zipper" deviceinvolving two strips carrying parallel sets of meshing elements inoffset relationship which, upon movement of a closure member enclosingportions of the same, and known to the trade as a slider, may cause therespective meshing elements on the strips to be brought intointerlocking relationship or separated one from the other, dependentupon the directional movement of such closure member; and with respectto trousers, this device has been applied at the fly portions of thesame in lieu of the button method of fastening.

However, with respect to such use, the two above strips carrying themeshing elements-are fastened at the apex of the fly portion and arenormally free at the other extremities, the strips being fastened alongtheir length to the portions of the trouser section defining the fly,while the slider, in order to carry out its proper func-. tions is drawnupwardly to interlock the meshing sections for sealing the fly", the"slider being temporarily locked at the upper extremities of the stripscarrying the meshing elements; and the slider is drawn downwardly toseparate the meshing elements and the fly" closure assembly carrying thesame, whereby the trousers may be manipulated for dressing or undressingor other uses.

However, it is an obvious and known fact with respect to the use ofgarments, that frequently it is desirable to open the fly closure, andsuch opening is normally adjacent the apex of the fly section, whichopening is necessarily not of great length in comparison with the totallength of the fly closure. With the present form of fly closure it isnecessary to'draw the slider downwardly towards the apex in order toseparate the fly sections to provide the necessary slit, with the resultthat the trousers are normally no longer supported as desired, and thisprocedure being obviously too cumbersome and inconvenient, the necessarycomfort and ease desired in mens apparel cannot be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to form a closure of the so-calledzipper type applied as a fly closure in mens trousers, among otherarticles of apparel, wherein the strips carrying the meshing elementsare mounted as heretofore, being joined at the apex of the fly andfastened along their length to the trouser sections defining the fly;however, there being mounted in association with such strips carryingthe meshing elements a plurality of sliders, in this instance, two innumber, assembled with respect to the 5 strips as to be opposed infunction when moved in the same direction, the lower of the two slidersnormally positioned adjacent the apex being adapted to separate theclosure upon upward movement, while the other slider disposed at m thefree ends of the strips opens the closure on downward movement.

' These and other advantages, capabilities and features of the inventionwill appear from the subjoined detailed description of one specificembodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in whichFigure l is a front view of an article of apparel, particularlytrousers, incorporating the invention.

Figure 2 is a front view showing the invention as applied to a trouserfly" with the flap open, the fly being closed and the sliders in normalposition.

Figure 3 is a front view indicating the position of the trouser fly whenthe upper of the two sliders is displaced in a direction for opening thesame.

Figure 4 is a front view of the trouser fly indicating the position ofthe elements thereof when the lower slider member is moved in adirection. for opening a portion of the fly.

Referring to the reference characters in the drawing, numeral 10represents a garment herein indicated as mens trousers having a flyportion 11 closed by a flap 12. To each of the sections 13 and 14defining the fly slit of the trousers 10 there is attached as bystitching or the like strips 15 carrying respectively parallellydisposed meshing elements 16 and 16 which are offset with respect to oneanother to provide for a vertical interlocking in the alternate spaceson the respective strips of the meshing elements thereof, when thestrips are drawn together through operation of a slider, such slidersbeing known to the art and being of such structural formation as toencircle the meshing elements on the respective strips for a certaindepth and which, upon movement in a certain direction, cause either theinterlocking of the respective meshing elements on the two strips or theseparation of the meshing elements when the same have been interlocked.

Referring particularly to Figures 2, 3 and 4, it

is noted that two sliders 17 and 18 are provided, the respective slidersbeing positioned in relation to the strips carrying the meshing elementsas to provide the separation of interlocked strips when slider 17 ismoved downwardly; and the separation of the interlocking strips whenslider 18 is moved upwardly; it being noted that the sliders, which areof the same construction, are disposed oppositely as to assembly inrelationship to the strips, so that movement in the same direction ofthe respective sliders will produce opposite results as to interlockingor separation of the strips. With further reference to Figures 2, 3, and4, it should be noted that the strips 15 are fastened at the apex 19 andextend along sections 13 and 14, so as to provide free ends havingslider movement limiting means 20 thereon, similar means being shown indotted lines as 21 adjacent the apex 19, the sliders normallyhavinglatching means actuable at the attainment of the slider limitingpoint for locking the slider at such points.

Referring particularly to Figure 3, the fly slit may be opened in itsentirety by drawing the slider 1'7 downwardly and the fly slit closed,by drawing the same upwardly, and. when slider drawn upwardly from theapex 19 thus separating the meshing elements 16 and 16' of the strips 15and providing an aperture 23, which may be varied as to size dependentupon the extent to which the slider 18 has been displaced.

It should be understood that the slider may be displaced as desired toprovide varying apertures and at the same time the trousers with respectto the remaining portions of the strips carrying the meshing elements,and the sections and flaps of the trousers defining the fly may remainin closed relationship. It is to be noted that when one slider is in usethe other remains in its locked position, since the same are actuatednormally for different purposes and to provide different results. 1

Although this invention has been described with respect to an embodimentinvolving the fly closure of trousers, it is within the province of thisinvention to apply the same to various slits or apertures where it maybe desired at times to provide a full opening from separable ends to anapex on the one hand, and partial openings to varying degrees from anapex towards the free ends, which remain normally locked.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to thedetails of construction without departing from the general spirit of theinvention as set forth in the ap fly and fastened along their length tomaterial defining the edges of the fly slit, sliders disposed on saidstrips, each cooperating with sections of both of said meshing elements,one slider being normally disposed at the apex of the fly" slit adjacentthe crotch, and the other slider being normally disposed at the freeextremities of the strips adjacent the waistband, when the fly slit isclosed, any one of the sliders upon being displaced towards the otherfromits normal position being adapted to separate the intermeshedelements, thereby to open a portion of the fly slit, and upon beingmoved away from the other slider, being adapted to interlock the meshingelements previously by it separated, to close the fly slit, the slidernormally adjacent the apex of the fly" slit upon displacement towardsthe free extremities of the strips being adapted to provide for anopening of the fly slit to varying degrees, dependent upon itsdisplacement relative to its normal position.

2. ,In a pair of trousers a fly extending from the crotch upwardly tothe waistband thereof, a

closure for the ,fly incorporating cooperating meshing elementsextending along opposite sides of the slit defined by the fiy", saidmeshing elements merging at the apex of the slit adjacent the crotch andthe free extremities thereof extending to the waistband, slidersdisposed on both of the meshing elements, each acting upon cooperatingsections of the meshing elements to interlock or separate the same, oneslider being normally disposed at the apex of the "fly" and the otherslider normally disposed at the waistband, when the "fly" is closed, theslider normally disposed at the waistband upon being displaced towardsthe crotch being adapted to separate the intermeshed elements from theirfree extremities leading towards the apex of the fly to provide for theformation of a V" slit, the slider normally disposed at the apex uponbeing displaced towards the waistband being adapted to separate, theintermeshing element from the apex towards the waistband to provide forthe formation of an elliptical slit, the opening of the fly in varyingdegrees being dependent upon the position of the respective slidersrelative to their normal position, only one of the respec-. tive slidersbeing moved' from its normal position at one time, for the purposespecified.

NATHAN SALWEN.

